Monday, January 6, 2014

Medicaid Backdoor to Government Health Care

Now we have the latest in the long and growing list of unpleasant “surprises” about the Affordable Care Act.

It turns out that expansion of coverage of Medicaid for low income
Americans increases rather than decreases visits to hospital emergency
rooms.

According to just released results of a new study, published in the
journal Science, based on 10,000 low income residents in Oregon newly
covered by Medicaid, their emergency room visits were 40 percent higher
than those with no insurance at all.

It was supposed to be the opposite. Supposedly a big driver of our
high expenditures in health care has been due to those without insurance
going to emergency rooms.

So get more of these folks covered with government health insurance,
they stop going to the emergency room, and we all save money. Right?
Wrong.

According to this study, increased ER visits, as result of expanded
Medicaid coverage, increased spending by $120 per covered individual.

Several factors could be at work here.

One, it has been widely reported that physicians in private practice
avoid Medicaid patients because of low reimbursement rates. So being
covered by Medicaid does not necessarily increase the chances of
personal care in a private office.

Another factor is appreciation that behavior is driven by cultural
experience. Anyone that understands the culture of low-income America
knows that these are not communities where health care is associated
with private physician visits. It is associated with emergency rooms and
hospitals.

It may well be as more lower income individuals get under the
Medicaid umbrella, they simply feel even more comfortable doing what
they always have done – go to the emergency room.

If the results of this study provide a reliable snapshot of reality,
we now face another huge and costly error in the assumptions that built
and brought us Obamacare.

Those who created this law decided on a “fix” for the uninsured who
earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but who are too costly to
subsidize for private insurance purchased through exchanges. The
brilliant decision was to expand qualifications for Medicaid up to those
earning 138 percent above poverty.

In order to bribe states to expand their Medicaid programs to cover
these individuals, the federal government (translation: we taxpayers)
will cover 100 percent of the costs of expansion for three years, and
then 90 percent thereafter.

Twenty-five states plus the District of Columbia have agreed to take the bribe.

So far, providing “free” government health care through Medicaid has
been attracting far more new enrollees than individuals signing up on
the exchanges. Estimates are there almost 2 million new enrollees
through the exchanges and about 4 million new enrollees into Medicaid.

The Congressional Budget Office projects the number of enrollees in
Medicaid to reach 91 million by 2023. And CBO projects annual growth in
expenditures on Medicaid to be 8 percent per year, or more than double
the expected growth rate of the American economy.

The bottom line is Medicaid is becoming a back door to get an
increasingly large percentage of the American population on a
single-payer government health care system and an increasingly large
percentage of the American population on welfare.

Given the results of this new study, in all likelihood the costs of all this in dollars is grossly underestimated.

And given my experience studying welfare for 25 plus years, both
initially as a recipient of it, and then as a critic of it, the human
costs of all this are also grossly underestimated.

Less government would open the door to creative ways to deliver more
and better health care, geared to the needs of different individuals.
Vouchers for low-income earners solves the problem for these folks to
buy insurance.

But if what we want is bigger government, more Americans addicted to
it, and growing waste, deficits and debt, we’re on the right track.

2013 Reveals Gobal Warmists' Favorite Alternative Fuel: B.S.

Growing desperate in their justification for denying Americans the
benefits of amply available domestic fossil fuels, scientists and
bureaucrats are resorting to that last best hope of institutional
mediocrities caught in lies.

They are lying some more.

As the real-time data refuses to confirm the dire predictions
global warming models have given us that the use of fossil fuels are
warming the world at the catastrophic rate, the bureaucrats have been
forced to use some alternative fuel of their own: BS.

The EPA for example has raised the ire of the House Science, Space,
and Technology Committee for ignoring the recommendations of scientists
in implementing new standards for power plants in the agency’s rush to
close down existing coal fired plants.

Or rather for not even soliciting the opinions of scientists: “We
are concerned about the agency’s apparent disregard for the concerns of
its science advisors,” said a letter sent to the agency by the House
committee. “Science is a valuable tool to help policymakers navigate
complex issues.

However, when inconvenient facts are disregarded or when
dissenting voices are muzzled, a frank discussion becomes impossible.
The EPA cannot continue to rush ahead with costly regulations without
allowing time for a real-world look at the science.”

The EPA you see, in their rush to shut down coal in this country,
decided to bypass the science, the peer review process—you know the
stuff they always say the other side is ignoring?

Between 1998 and 2012 the global economy more than doubled in
size—to some $71 trillion in GDP from $30 trillion. That's the good
news. Over the same period the world pumped more than 100 billion tons
of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. That is supposedly the bad news.
Yet global surface temperatures have remained essentially flat. That's
the mystery: If emitting CO2 into the atmosphere causes global warming,
why hasn't the globe been warming?

That's the question we would have liked to see answered by the
U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which Friday
published the summary of its fifth report on what co-chairman Thomas
Stocker calls "the greatest challenge of our times." It would have also
been nice to see some humility from the IPCC, which since its last
report in 2007 has seen some of its leading scientists exposed as
bullies, and some of its most eye-catching predictions debunked.
(Remember the vanishing Himalayan glaciers?)

As one of the original writers to cover the "unexplained" halt
global warming over the last two decades, I’m gratified the mainstream
media is paying attention. Readers will remember that when I covered this, the usual “settled science” crowd did the usual routine of accusing me of not understanding science, math, shapes and colors.

The Wall Street Journal by the way, while right of Obama, is a
pretty staid, mainstream publication that generally supports the status
quo.

The fact that even the Wall Street Journal is poking at warming
alarmists ought to be sounding alarm bells for those purveyors of
data-manipulated doom.

As the popular website Watts Up with That points out 2013 has been a bad year in the global warming modeling business.

‘Regardless of efforts to nebulize CAGW to explain all forms of climatic and weather variation,” says WUWT,
“in 2013 every loosely falsifiable prediction of the CAGW narrative
seems to have failed.

The apparent complete failure of the CAGW
narrative in 2013 could make the most fundamentalist agnostic wonder if
Mother Nature sometimes takes sides.”

All unnoticed by regular folks, but known by global warming
alarmists is that temperature and rainfall produced record crops across
virtually the entire country greatly adding to economic output in the
third quarter.

These developments make global warming ninnies worried.

“I’m a young scientist and am too afraid to speak out at work,” reports WUWT,
“because I fear repercussions. Anyway, I thought you might be
interested in reading an announcement for a seminar coming up soon here
at NCAR. It came in our ‘Staff Notes’ that everybody here at NCAR
[National Center for Atmospheric Research] receives every day in our
inbox. Some of these folks are getting really bitter that they are losing ground in this all-important argument.”
In short, as the predictions of doom remain unfulfilled year after
year, and the data shows that the globe has not warmed appreciably in
the last two decades count on bureaucrats, politicians and technocrats
to increase the number of lies they tell to bolster their side.

“If science is the ‘backbone’ of everything they do at EPA,” asks
Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-IL) of the House Science, Space, and Technology
Committee, “why is the agency ignoring the advice of its own independent
scientists who raised concerns over proposed power plant standards?
We're asking EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy why the agency is muzzling
dissent.”

Oh, that’s easy.

It’s because they’re losing and they’re hoping to cover it up with their favorite alternative fuel: B.S.

Firearms Company Magpul Makes Good On Pledge To Leave Colorado Over Gun Control Laws

Magpul,
maker of gun accessories like grips, mounts, sights and magazines, was
among the first firearms companies to take a principled stand against
gun control laws passed last year in Colorado, where the company had
done business for the past 14 years.

In March, Magpul announced that it would not continue to operate in a State that limits its residents’ 2nd Amendment freedoms while playing host to firearms manufacturers that can make — but not sell — their goods in Colorado.

It wasn’t just idle talk: Magpul makes 30-round magazines, which are
now illegal under Colorado’s new ban on mags that hold more than 15
rounds.

“If we’re able to stay in Colorado and manufacture a product, but
law-abiding citizens of the state were unable to purchase the product,
customers around the state and the nation would boycott us for remaining
here,” Magpul COO Doug Smith told The Denver Post
shortly before the Democratic-controlled State Legislature and Governor
John Hickenlooper approved the new gun laws. “Staying here would hurt
our business.”

Now Magpul is making good on that pledge. The company announced
late last week that it has secured new manufacturing and distribution
facilities in Cheyenne, Wyo., and will move its corporate headquarters
to one of three locations under consideration in northern Texas.

In last week’s announcement, Smith and Magpul CEO Richard Fitzpatrick
each reiterated the reason the company elected to move its operations.

“Magpul made the decision to relocate in March 2013 and has proceeded
on an aggressive but deliberate path,” said Smith. “These dual moves
will be carried out in a manner that ensures our operations and supply
chain will not be interrupted and our loyal customers will not be
affected.”

“Moving operations to states that support our culture of individual
liberties and personal responsibility is important,” said Fitzpatrick.
“This relocation will also improve business operations and logistics as
we utilize the strengths of Texas and Wyoming in our expansion.”

Across Xinjiang, the power of religion is strong. Muslims
pray every day to show their faith to Allah. But some religious
extremists are using their faith by distorting Koran to incite violence
and killings.

A direct link to Allah.

For more than six hundred years, Muslims have gathered here daily in Kashgar’s Id Kah Mosque, the biggest mosque in China.

They express their faith to Allah and pray for good life. Unlike
other religions, which may need a priest to interpret their scriptures,
Koran allows its believers to interpret the doctrines of Allah
individually.

It tells people to be kind and show peace. Violence, yet alone murder, is condemned and banned.

For that to be true, there would have to be a general rejection among Muslims of the literal understanding of these verses:

2:191-193: “And slay them wherever you come upon them, and expel
them from where they expelled you; persecution is more grievous than
slaying. But fight them not by the Holy Mosque until they should fight
you there; then, if they fight you, slay them -- such is the recompense
of unbelievers, but if they give over, surely Allah is All-forgiving,
All-compassionate. Fight them, till there is no persecution and the
religion is Allah’s; then if they give over, there shall be no enmity
save for evildoers.”

4:34: “Men are the managers of the affairs of women for that Allah
has preferred in bounty one of them over another, and for that they have
expended of their property. Righteous women are therefore obedient,
guarding the secret for Allah’s guarding. And those you fear may be
rebellious admonish; banish them to their couches, and beat them. If
they then obey you, look not for any way against them; Allah is
All-high, All-great.”

4:89: “They wish that you should disbelieve as they disbelieve, and
then you would be equal; therefore take not to yourselves friends of
them, until they emigrate in the way of Allah; then, if they turn their
backs, take them, and slay them wherever you find them; take not to
yourselves any one of them as friend or helper.”

5:33: "This is the recompense of those who fight against Allah and
His Messenger, and hasten about the earth, to do corruption there: they
shall be slaughtered, or crucified, or their hands and feet shall
alternately be struck off; or they shall be banished from the land. That
is a degradation for them in this world; and in the world to come
awaits them a mighty chastisement."

5:38: "And the thief, male and female: cut off the hands of both, as a
recompense for what they have earned, and a punishment exemplary from
Allah; Allah is All-mighty, All-wise."

8:12: “When thy Lord was revealing to the angels, ‘I am with you; so
confirm the believers. I shall cast into the unbelievers’ hearts terror;
so smite above the necks, and smite every finger of them!’”

8:39: “Fight them, till there is no persecution and the religion is
Allah’s entirely; then if they give over, surely Allah sees the things
they do.”

8:60: “Make ready for them whatever force and strings of horses you
can, to terrify thereby the enemy of Allah and your enemy, and others
besides them that you know not; Allah knows them. And whatsoever you
expend in the way of Allah shall be repaid you in full; you will not be
wronged.”

9:5: “Then, when the sacred months are drawn away, slay the idolaters
wherever you find them, and take them, and confine them, and lie in
wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they repent, and perform
the prayer, and pay the alms, then let them go their way; Allah is
All-forgiving, All-compassionate.”

9:29: “Fight those who believe not in Allah and the Last Day and do
not forbid what Allah and His Messenger have forbidden -- such men as
practise not the religion of truth, being of those who have been given
the Book -- until they pay the tribute out of hand and have been
humbled.”

9:111: “Allah has bought from the believers their selves and their
possessions against the gift of Paradise; they fight in the way of
Allah; they kill, and are killed; that is a promise binding upon Allah
in the Torah, and the Gospel, and the Koran; and who fulfils his
covenant truer than Allah? So rejoice in the bargain you have made with
Him; that is the mighty triumph.”

9:123: “O believers, fight the unbelievers who are near to you; and
let them find in you a harshness; and know that Allah is with the
godfearing.”

47:4: “When you meet the unbelievers, smite their necks, then, when
you have made wide slaughter among them, tie fast the bonds; then set
them free, either by grace or ransom, till the war lays down its loads.
So it shall be; and if Allah had willed, He would have avenged Himself
upon them; but that He may try some of you by means of others. And those
who are slain in the way of Allah, He will not send their works
astray.”

That's three verses about slaying polytheists, apostates, etc.
wherever they are found, one about beating disobedient women, two about
beheading, two mandating amputation as a punishment, and more. However
Muslim spokesmen in the West may explain these away -- as only applying
to the seventh century, or under strict circumstances, etc. -- it would
be hard to see how this could all be reconciled with the claim that in
the Qur'an, "violence, yet alone murder, is condemned and banned.."

Reporter: “But the situation here is not as calm as it seems. The
Imam at this mosque, who’s shared his views with us many times before,
declined our interview this time. And Uyghur Muslims have also become
reluctant to speak about their religion on TV. This is a sensitive time,
and everyone is being very cautious.”

Throughout 2013, a string of deadly terror attacks rocked Kashgar.
All of them were planned and organized by what the authorities “the
three evil forces”, which are separatism, terrorism and religious
extremism.

Like Al-Qaeda, they are attempting to infiltrate remote regions and
set up underground sermon halls, in which they distort the Koran, using
it to incite Uyghurs into violence.
While most Muslims ignore their approach, there is a growing concern
in the region that those who openly speak against them could face
retaliation.

Kashgar has increased security to protect people’s safety, and make
sure that Muslims in China can continue to enjoy the freedom of
religion.

Op-ed:Muslims in America...like oil and water they just don't
mix By: Diane
Sori

Yesterday I posted this picture and it really got me thinking as there is much truth in these numbers beyond their numerical value,
for what these numbers indicate is stealth jihad going on right before
our eyes.

Now here's a scary thought that we Westerners must face...it's
been predicted that if unchecked, by the year 2030, muslims will make up
more than one quarter of the world's projected population of 8.3
billion. One-quarter of this entire planet will be muslim in a mere 15
years or so...8.3 billion people will be muslim when in 2010 there
were 1.57 billion muslims...and I cannot stress those numbers enough for
if that does NOT scare the hell out of you NOTHING will for those
numbers alone will assure them victory over their enemies.

And we infidels...we Westerners...we Americans...are their enemy.

And these simple numbers tell you that in time Israel will
easily be overrun as will most of Europe for the ever increasing muslim population continues to grow
unchecked, and with those sheer numbers alone they will be able to do what all the wars
throughout all of muslim history have failed to do...eradicate the
infidels without them needing to lift a finger to do so.

In Great Britain alone, almost one in ten people will be muslim
by 2030, because of lax immigration policies (one in four immigrants to
Great Britain is currently muslim) and sky high muslim birth rates. And
this will translate in less than 15 years into Great Britain...America's
mother country as some like to say...having more muslims than the
entire Arab nation of Kuwait. Scary huh...

And at the current rate of muslim immigration combined with their
notoriously high birth rates, once secular France...the country who has
always shied away from religion in government...will become a muslim
majority country within 23 years...complete with prayer rugs in every
home, burqas on its women, and a mosque on every corner.

So what of our beloved America...separated by oceans but with a
muslim loving if NOT outright muslim president. Our beloved America
could see 'Yankee Doodle Dandy' replaced by the muslim call to prayer as
the number of muslims in America is expected to double within the next
20 years up from today's 2.6 million to 6.2 million or more.

Talk about the need to seal our borders and seriously limit...if
NOT outright halt...muslim immigration into our country.
And please do NOT dare call me a racist for thinking this...as some on
the left and maybe even some on the right will most assuredly do...for
being a muslim is NOT about nationality for anyone, NO matter their race
or ethnicity, can become a muslim as all the word 'muslim' means is a
follower of islam and NOTHING more.

And while these numbers in and of themselves pose a danger
to Western culture and society, let's NOT forget that once a country's
population numbers start to shift in their favor, muslims will begin to
'legally' takeover said country's government by slowly but steadily
getting their people elected. And when that happens they will start
introducing sharia compliant legislation...which will probably start
with removing the penalties for 'honor killings' and mandating that burqa
'garbage bags' become the rule of dress for all women.

And while we as Americans can do NOTHING to stop the muslim
immigration into the European countries, we sure as hell can stop it
here. With the vast majority of Americans rightfully having an
unfavorable view of both islam and muslims...as they simply do NOT fit
into the fabric of our American society...it's way past time to
understand the whys...and the whys do indeed go back to the word
'religion' and the practices that word encompasses.

The right to freedom of religion was indeed a basis for the
founding of our country. But freedom to practice one's religion does NOT
mean the freedom to have some in power force 'We the People'
to accept a barbaric perverted cult nor does it mean that we must comply to
that said cult when it goes against the very founding of our country as
a Judeo-Christian nation. In fact, it means that we as Americans must
do any and everything in our power to rid our country of any and all dangers put
upon it, even if that means stopping and turning back those who practice
said cult from ever reaching our shores.

Remember, islam is NOT a religion but is a political system that
hides behind the guise of calling itself a religion...a political cult
and NOTHING more. So by denying immigration status to those from muslim
countries, we are NOT discriminating against those who practice a
certain religion...which would be against our Constitution...but we are
stopping them from coming here because what they practice is NOT a
religion but is a political ideology based on the mindset of terrorism
as a legitimate answer to any perceived problems and that is NOT
acceptable in America...period.

Religion...legitimate recognized religion here in America is
based upon a set of beliefs, values, morals, ideals, and practices
following the teachings of God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the
Abrahamic God of the Jews...in other words religion in America is based
upon the one true living and loving God of the Christians and Jews.
Religion in America is NOT based upon the rantings of a delusional
madman who expounded jihad...just another name for terrorism by the
way...and wrote down in his anything but a holy book...the qur'an...at
least 109 verses that call for muslims to 'war with nonbelievers for the
sake of Islamic rule'...verses that are part of the eternal,
unchanging, unforgiving word of the false god allah.

So sealing our borders to muslim immigrants is in NO way
discriminating against them for their belief in islam, but is stopping
them from entering or country because by their very following of islam as laid
down in the qur'an they are sworn and commanded to kill all those who
do NOT believe as they do...meaning almost all of the American people.

And last time I checked killers were denied access to our country
.And even if all I have said is still NOT enough for you to understand
why muslim immigration into America must be stopped then how about
this...just the fact that the qur'an states that there shall be NO law
higher than sharia law, and with the Constitution being the law of our
land, that alone should be enough to make anybody see that islam and its
muslim followers are simply the diametrical opposite of what is
compatible with our American way of life.

And to those who spout the 'coexist' nonsense...and to those who
tried to blend Christianity and islam into the kumbaya, touchy-feely
abomination known as Chislam...I say wake-up...for God's sake please
wake-up for we CANNOT coexist in peace with people commanded by their
(un)holy book to kill us all. Coexist is NOTHING but taqiyya in action,
and if we as Americans dare to fall for that then indeed all will be
lost.

So seal the borders to all muslim immigration and seal them now
before our beloved America becomes just like Europe but on a larger
scale.

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I am an American Patriot...part of the grassroots movement of bloggers spreading the truth the media will not. I am also co-host with Craig Andresen of RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS on RSP Radio at: https://streamingv2.shoutcast.com/right-side-patriots